


What To Do When You're Grounded

by Ronoken



Series: The Miraculous World of Gina Agreste [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Caline Bustier deserves a raise, Emilie Agreste - Freeform, Gen, Gina Agreste, Gina is so done, Good Teacher Caline Bustier, Gorizilla - Freeform, Original Character(s), Plagg is a Little Shit (Miraculous Ladybug), Poor Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug), This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23950879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ronoken/pseuds/Ronoken
Summary: When Bunnyx shows up in Gina Agreste's room and needs her help to set the timeline right, you'd think the daughter of two legendary heroes would be more, um, willing to help?Of course, she's already had a Helluva day. And she's grounded.Can Gina go back in time to save Ladybug? Will the timeline be forever altered? Will Gina and the past version of her mom find some common ground? Will Sabine royally embarras her daughter just because she can? Will Marinette ever figure out that Adrien is Chat Noir? Can Gina deal with her own crippling self-doubt long enough to punch a giant monster in the face?Come on. There's a giant monster. You know this'll be fun.A one-shot about Gina Agreste, the grumpy, indecisive hero from the future and how she totally saves Ladybug's life. Again.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Series: The Miraculous World of Gina Agreste [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726510
Comments: 20
Kudos: 107
Collections: The What To Do Series





	What To Do When You're Grounded

It was only Tuesday, and Gina Agreste was already 100% done.

She had overslept, mainly because her parents had left for work early. Something about getting things ready before their flight to New York that afternoon. While Gina was looking forward to having a bit more time to herself, she was also a little down at having to share that time with her big sister. Emilie wasn’t awful, but she wasn’t exactly the company that Gina preferred.

She had barely had any time to get ready that morning. Emilie was already dressed, primed, and out the door before Gina even got out of bed, of course. Having a rooster miraculous was apparently like having the ultimate alarm clock. Gina ignored that her big sis had been given her miraculous at 13, because of course she had. She got everything early.

She was dressed in a wrinkled, favorite Jagged Stone concert tee, short jean shorts with black leggings, and her favorite patched jean jacket. Her short mop of brown hair was held out of her eyes by two black barrettes, and her wire rim-glasses were sliding down her freckled nose as she bobbed and weaved through the crowds in front of her.

“Gosh, Miss Gina,” Ziggy said from her jacket pocket. “I’d a got ya up at the crack o dawn if ya’d asked.”

“I _did_ ask,” Gina grumbled. “You slept in, too.”

“Shucks,” Ziggy said with a tiny shrug. “I was plum tuckered after watchin’ the magic glowin’ box wit’ ya.”

Gina sighed as she rounded a corner and dogged a man in a suit and hat who was feeding the pigeons. “It’s fine. Look, I was up late, too. It’s just, I really wanted to see mom and dad off before they left this afternoon.”

“They’ll be back on Friday, I reckon,” Ziggy said. “It’s mighty neat that the Master has a big deal waitin’ for her overseas.”

Gina smiled. She knew her mom and dad had been working nonstop on their new casual line and that this meeting would make or break them for the year. It was massively important, but even so, they had taken the time to ask Gina and Emilie to help design some pieces with them. She also knew her parents would knock it out of the park.

Yeah, they were working parents, but they were still pretty cool. Gina loved them with all her heart, and that was without the superpowers. Still, Gina was a teen, and she felt instinctually obligated to keep up appearances. Even though on top of everything else, her mother led the greatest team of heroes on the planet, Gina always acted like she wasn’t impressed.

In private, however?

Gina would never admit it, but she had a collection of their hero merchandise buried in a trunk in the back of her closet.

“Let’s not tell mom and dad about the magic glowin’ box being on at midnight, okay?” Gina asked as she took a bite of cold, buttered toast.

“Well, if ya hadn’t been, whadya call it? Textin’? If ya hadn’t been textin’ that André feller, ya might have noticed how late it was,” Ziggy said, smiling.

Gina blushed a bit. “He needed help with his social studies.”

“He didn’t seem ta need _that_ much help,” Ziggy pointed out.

“Shut up, Ziggs. He’s my best friend. I’ve known him since I was a baby.”

Ziggy grinned. “You say so, Miss Gina.”

It was true. While they might have been enemies as kids, Marinette and Chloé had strangely bonded over time. When they both became pregnant within a month of each other, that had further cemented their bond. Their kids had grown up side-by-side, and like it or not, André Bourgeois was the closest thing Gina had to a brother.

Gina was booking it down the street, the piece of toast hanging out of her mouth as she lugged her backpack through the crowded morning sidewalks on her way to Francoise Dupont. She had ten minutes before Madame Bourgeoise would close the door and count her late. She knew that if she kept this pace, she could be there in eight. André would take notes for her if she needed him to, but…

The sound of people screaming around her broke her concentration. She turned in time to see a city bus blast by, scraping the side of a car as it swerved violently down the road.

The toast in her mouth fell to the ground as she muttered, “What the heck?”

“That there looks like a runaway ta me,” Ziggy said from her jean jacket pocket.

Gina felt a cold knot in her stomach. She looked around, hoping to see someone, _anyone_ , that might have also noticed what was going on that could do something. There were close to a dozen miraculous users in Paris, but of course, right now there was only one nearby, and it was her.

Of all the things she wished she had inherited but didn’t, her mother’s luck was at the top of the list.

Gina frantically looked around and saw a side street that was relatively uncrowded. She ran down it and tossed her bag behind a trashcan before adjusting her glasses.

“Alright,” she said as she broke out in a cold sweat.

Ziggy looked up at her, concerned. “Ya sure yer ready, Miss Gina? We ain’t practiced much fer somethin’ like this.”

Gina nodded. “There’s no one else around. It’s just us, Ziggs.”

Ziggy sighed. “I reckon you’re right.”

Gina took a deep, shaky breath, and nodded. “I reckon so.”

***

The bus was screaming down the street as Gina, now transformed, bounded across the rooftops beside it and wondered how in the Hell she was supposed to handle something like this. She had her shepherd’s staff, but she couldn’t for the life of her see a way to stop something this big and heavy. If she put her stick in front of it, she would be taken for a ride. If she tried to swat it, the bus would tip and crash, or worse yet, go onto the sidewalk.

Gina cringed as the bus scraped against the side of a line of parked cars. A shower of sparks shot out as the sound of grinding metal echoed off the surrounding buildings.

“What do I do? What do I do? What do I _do_?” Gina frantically mumbled. She was keeping pace, but aside from that, she just couldn’t see what she could…

Gina looked ahead.

The bus was rocketing towards a roundabout. In the middle of the roundabout, on the sidewalk, Gina could see what looked like a preschool class holding hands, out on a walking field trip. The teacher and children had frozen at the sight of the oncoming bus.

Gina’s stomach dropped.

There are two types of people in this world. The type who watch, and the type who act. If you asked Gina at any other time, she would have told you she was the type who watched. She would tell you that unlike her parents, her family, her perfect sister, she was not brave. She was just her, and that was hard enough as it was.

She would have been wrong.

Gina jumped forward, her body a black and white blur. She landed in the street between the oncoming bus and the group of children. She didn’t know what she was doing, or if what she was about to do would even work. She honestly had no clue how strong she was or how much punishment she could take while transformed, but at that moment, she didn’t care.

She dug in, put her hands in front of her, gritted her teeth, and braced.

The bus slammed into her at full force. Gina cried out as the momentum and weight of the massive vehicle crashed into her and pushed her back, but she dug in and screamed. Her hands pushed so hard against the fender of the bus that they dented the metal inward, and her feet dragged until they embedded into the pavement, leaving two dugout trails as she was forced forward.

The bus lurched and whined, it’s backend swerving as its momentum was stopped. Gina felt the muscles in her arms screaming at her and her sides felt like a thousand knives were ripping through her. The bus was still moving. It was slower, but she couldn’t stop it completely. She gripped harder, all feeling leaving her hands.

She world was going black. She had never felt anything like this in her life. Lights were exploding behind her eyes. She let out another scream, this one far more desperate as she put everything she had into one last shove.

And just like that, the bus stopped pushing back.

Gina was shaking, her arms felt like rubber and her knees had buckled. She collapsed into a crouched heap as a passenger pulled the driver out of his seat and put on the parking brake.

Gina sobbed as she held her arms. She couldn’t stop shaking, but at the sound of the commotion around her, she did finally look up and around.

She was less than a meter from the curb.

The children who had been watching in horror looked at her and erupted in a cheer. Gina was overwhelmed by the thunderous applause that was washing over her as she was nearly tackled by the children that had been behind her a moment ago. Dimly, she heard someone ask if she was okay. A hand reached out to help her. Gina took it and stood, albeit shakily. She looked up to see the woman helping her was the preschool teacher that had been holding the children a moment ago.

“Thank you!” The teacher hugged Gina tightly. Gina, not knowing what the etiquette was in a situation like this, hugged her back. “You saved my children. You saved everyone!”

Gina felt herself slowly relax. She looked at the bus as the sound of sirens filled the air. She had completely bent the front inward, and there were two deep handprints where she had pushed against it.

“I stopped the bus?” She said, still not believing it. The woman pulled back and nodded.

“Of course you did!” She said, beaming. “I can’t believe you did that! It was amazing!”

Gina finally registered the group of appreciative children. She felt overwhelmed as they hugged her and cheered.

“I stopped the bus,” Gina said. A small smile crept across her face.

The woman smiled and asked, “So, hero. What’s your name?”

Gina blinked. She had wanted to say Artemis, but that was more for when she had Plagg, if she would _ever_ have him again, that was. She had spent several nights going over names, and while she wasn’t completely comfortable with it yet, she found one that kind-of sort-of fit.

“Faunus,” she said. “Um, my hero name is Faunus.”

The woman patted her on the shoulder and turned to her class. “Everyone, say thank you to Faunus for saving us.”

“THANK YOU, FAUNUS!” The class chanted.

Gina turned beet red. “Um, you’re welcome?”

Gina noticed that the paramedics had arrived and were carrying the driver of the bus out on a stretcher. A fireman approached her and asked, “Are you okay, Miss?”

Gina nodded. “I’m fine. My arms hurt a little, but I’m okay.”

She went to shake the firefighter’s hand, and then winced. “Okay, I lied. My hands hurt a bit.”

“Let me get you an ice pack for that,” The firefighter said. Gina nodded her thanks.

As she accepted the icepack and rubbed it between her hands, Gina noticed the crowd gathered around her. They were staring and excitedly talking, and _everyone_ had their phones out. Gina suddenly felt extremely self-conscious. “I, um, I need to get going. Are you okay if I leave?” Gina asked the woman.

The woman nodded. “Of course. Oh, tell your mother hello for me. She was always my favorite.”

Gina’s eyes went wide. “You, you know who I am?”

The woman shook her head and smiled. “I’m honestly guessing, but I’d be surprised if I’m wrong. Tell Captain Cowgirl that Annabell says hello.”

Gina blinked, completely confused. “Okay. I will do that. Yes. Um, I have to go. Later?”

Not knowing what else to do, Gina jumped for the nearest rooftop.

***

She had arrived thirty minutes late to class. Madame Bourgeois paused in the middle of her math lesson as Gina awkwardly squeezed by André and took her seat beside him.

“Sorry, Ms. Bourgeois,” Gina mumbled. “I, um, I got caught in traffic.”

Well, it wasn’t a lie.

Caline Bourgeois, now in her 50’s, could have easily been the principal at this point. Her husband, the former mayor, was now a Cabinet Minister. She had considerable sway and more than enough experience, but she couldn’t bring herself to oust Mr. Damocles from his roost. He was well into his 70’s and a bit insane, but he had become a fixture, and Caline honestly didn’t want the additional headaches of being in charge.

Also, she really, really liked just teaching.

She was dressed in a white suit with a turquoise silk blouse, as old habits tended to die hard with Caline. Her hair was still short, but she had let it start to go silver a few years back. She was still trim, and if anything, age had done that magical trick where the angles of her face had become just a little sharper, and her eyes, now with slight crows feet beside them from a combination of age and motherhood, shined a little brighter.

Caline watched the bumbling youth and smiled a little. “It’s fine, Gina. Please see me after class. We were actually about to start our daily complementing. Since you just arrived, I think it’s only fair that you be volunteered.

Gina sighed as her classmates snickered. She hated being up in front of people. In fact, the only person in class who hated attention more was…

“Richter?” Caline called out. “Why don’t you come down, too?”

In the back of the class, the mountain of a student known as Richter Burel tensed up. He slowly stood and with halted steps, made his way to the front.

Gina looked up at the massive youth. While some children were a physical mix of their parents, Richter had almost entirely inherited his build from his father. His face, and nervous expressions, though?

That was all Mylene.

He was almost two heads taller than she was, with a short, brown buzzcut and a barrel-shaped body wrapped in a green, _Kitty Section_ tee. He was the most menacing-looking person in the entire school, even if he wouldn’t hurt a fly.

Gina offered a little smile. Richter was quiet and intimidating, but she had grown up around him as well. He was a good kid, and his level of social awkwardness made her look like a cheerleader by comparison.

“Um, hi Richter,” Gina said as she shuffled her feet. She really hated being in front of everyone. “I think your taste in clothing is pretty cool. I have that same shirt, but, you know, in my size. _Kitty Section_ is pretty awesome.

This was commonly accepted. About 60% of the class was biased towards _Kitty Section_ just by merit of who their parents were, but I digress.

Richter stared at her and stuttered. Gina watched as he turned beet red and twisted his hands together. He was sweating so badly that she could see a sheen developing on his forehead.

“You… Eyes… You have… Eyes.”

Gina slowly nodded.

“Eyes… Green…” Richter started to hyperventilate as Gina shot a pleading look to Caline.

Caline sighed and nodded. “Thank you, Richter. Have a seat.”

Richter visibly deflated and nodded his thanks as he scurried to the back of the class.

Gina slid in beside André and bumped him. “Loser.”

“Dork,” he said back, not looking up from his notes. “Here,” he said as he slid his notebook over. “Inverse operations. She was pretty heavy on these this morning, so, you know, might wanna copy these.”

Gina mumbled her thanks and took out her phone to photograph his notes, which were meticulous. Gina smirked. Aunt Chloé’s handwriting was flowery and ornate, but the rigid lines and tight lettering said volumes about who had taught André to write. His handwriting was so close to her Aunt Sabrina’s it was almost indistinguishable.

“What was up with Richter?” André asked, his brown eyes focused on his math assignment.

Gina shrugged. “I dunno. Eh, probably nerves. No biggie. He doesn’t really handle crowds.”

And with that, Gina put the morning out of her mind.

Unfortunately, it would come back to haunt her.

***

It was three in the afternoon, and Gina sat in a green chair in the hall, her hands buried in the pockets of her jean jacket as she saw the worst sight in the universe that a kid in trouble can see while in school.

There, at the end of the hall, were her parents. They were walking quickly and hadn’t spotted her, so she did her best to flatten herself against the wall. Fortunately, she was sitting outside the principal’s office, and her teacher’s room was several doors down. Gina waited until they both went into the classroom before she dared to breathe.

Gina noticed they were still dressed for the office.

“I’m dead,” she muttered. “I’m so dead.”

“Thank you for coming,” Caline stood and shook Adrien’s hand as he and Marinette arrived for an impromptu after school parent-teacher conference. Adrien was more than happy to see his old teacher, and Marinette bypassed the handshake to go straight in for the hug.

“Of course,” Marinette said. “How are things? How’s Camille doing? We haven’t seen her lately.”

Caline smiled and offered her favorite couple a seat. “She’s doing great. College seems to be a good fit for her. She tells me she’s looking at getting her degree in pharmaceuticals.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow at that. “Is she looking to be a pharmacist?”

“Actually, she’s looking to go into pharmaceutical sales. Her sister gave her some rather pointed business advice.” Caline took a seat behind her desk and noticed that both Marinette and Adrien were in suits. Marinette was in a purple sport coat with snappy shoulder pads, while Adrien was in a charcoal grey three-piece. They looked like they just walked out of a board room, which, Caline thought, probably wasn’t that far off.

Caline silently wished she had worn her red Ladybug blazer. If she had known how the day would pan out, she would have.

“It’s not a bad profession,” Adrien offered. “She’s smart, and Chloé wouldn’t steer her wrong.”

Caline smiled at that, but then cleared her throat. “So, I appreciate you both taking the time to come down here on such short notice. I wouldn’t have bothered you normally, but…”

“Is Gina okay?” Marinette asked. Both her and Adrien leaned forward in their seats, each wearing nervous expressions across their faces.

Caline blinked. “Um, she’s fine. It’s Richter that has the black eye.”

Adrien and Marinette blinked in confusion. “Mylene and Ivan’s son?” Marinette asked.

Caline nodded. “Something happened at lunch. Some altercation or another, and well, I wasn’t able to get much out of Gina or Richter about it, but I do have an eyewitness.”

“Oh?” Adrien asked.

Caline opened her desk drawer. “Come on out and tell us what happened.”

The Agrestes watched as Ziggy floated out. He was happily munching on a corndog from the cafeteria. “Mighty nice o’ you ta think o’ me like this, Miss Caline.”

Caline closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten. “Ziggy here was nice enough to fill me in on the details. Of course, I had to bribe him, as you can see.”

Marinette looked from Ziggy to Caline. “How is he here? Shouldn’t he be with Gina?”

Caline rooted in her drawer and took out a set of turquoise barrettes. She tossed them on the desk. “I confiscated these after the fight. I didn’t need her putting Richter through a wall.” She eyed Marinette.

Marinette lightly whistled and looked away.

“I told her these would be going to you. You, um, you are still in charge of all of them, I’m guessing?”

Marinette nodded. She picked up the barrettes, which instantly turned red when she touched them. “Yep, still in charge.”

Beside her, Adrien was rubbing his face in exasperation. “Okay, so, what happened?”

“Gosh, I missed you, Miss Caline,” Ziggy said as he took another bite. “Y’all still got those frozen pizzas in yer fridge?”

Caline cleared her throat. “Ziggy? If you would?”

“How’s yer kin?” Ziggy asked, oblivious. “The girls doin’ alright?”

Caline nodded. “They’re fine, Ziggy. Thank you for asking. Now, about…”

“Man,” Ziggy said as he took another bite. “Yer new place with Mr. André sure was powerful big. Mighty nice closet.” He looked to Marinette and grinned. “I had my own stable in there, I did. Shucks, that was nice. He sure did buy her a right powerful number of clothes though. Y’all still got those, Miss Caline?”

Caline closed her eyes and tried to focus. “That was a while ago, Ziggy, but I’m sure some of them are still there. Now, about what happ…”

“What about all them fancy bed clothes? Those were the best ta make a nest outta, I tell you what. Yer closet was so full it looked like a costume party. Gosh, you remember that one that made you look like a black cat?”

“ZIGGY, FOCUS.” Caline said as she buried her now beet-red face in her hands.

Adrien coughed and did his best to focus on anything but the conversation taking place.

“I have not fucking missed this,” Caline muttered.

“Ziggy?” Marinette said, leaning in. “What happened with Gina today at lunch?”

Ziggy blinked as he focused on Marinette. “Well, Miss Gina was eatin’ her corn dog. It’s corn dog day in the cafeteria. I think they do it every Tuesday and she always gets me one fer myself, she does. She’s a real good holder, Ma’am.”

Marinette nodded. “I’m sure she is. Please stay on topic.”

“He won’t,” A snickering voice said from inside Adrien’s vest. “You know he won’t. Face it, pigtails. This is your life now.”

Adrien sighed and slumped in his chair. “Plagg, you’re not helping.”

Adrien’s coat actually moved up and down ad Plagg continued to laugh.

Caline smiled a little. _‘That takes me back,’_ she thought to herself.

“Well now,” Ziggy said as he thought about it. “I done felt Miss Gina get all tense, like when there’s trouble brewin’? Well, I reckon she was mad cause that there big kid came over and started yellin’ at her.”

Marinette blinked. “Richter yelled at her? In the middle of the cafeteria?”

Ziggy nodded. “He was all loud and redder than a barn door, he was. Miss Gina got so flustered she stood up and decked him right then and there. Ooo-wee! She done knocked him clean out! You’d a been mighty proud, Ma’am. Miss Gina has a mean left hook.”

Marinette sighed. “Yes, Ziggy. I’m overflowing with pride that my daughter knocked out my friend’s son.”

“Why was he yelling at her?” Adrien asked.

Caline shrugged. “That’s what I can’t get out of either of them. Richter locked up and Gina said she didn’t want to talk about it. Regardless, she can’t go around decking people, even if they are yelling.”

“I reckon she was still worked up on account o’ this mornin.” Ziggy pointed out as he finished his hotdog.

Marinette blinked. “This morning? What happened this morning?”

Ziggy patted his stomach and burped. “Oh, she had ta catch a bus.”

“She overslept again?” Marinette asked, exasperated.

Ziggy thought about it. “Well, now that ya mention it, we did.”

Marinette slumped a little in her seat. “I can’t _believe_ she punched Richter. I mean, I get it. Sometimes you get flustered, and being yelled at doesn’t help. Heck, I remember I even decked Chloé once,” Marinette said before catching herself. “Sorry,” she said, shrinking in her seat a little.

It didn’t matter that she was all grown up, a superhero, and the head of one of the biggest fashion labels in the world. There was just something about sitting across from your old teacher that instantly made you feel self-conscious.

Caline chuckled. “Sweetie, I was always impressed that you didn’t just up and kill Chloé. Look, I know Gina feels a lot of pressure to live up to, well, you two.” Caline gestured to the couple. “But she needs to find better ways to control her stress and outbursts. And unfortunately, because she was the one who threw the punch, I have to suspend her.”

Marinette grumbled. “I understand.”

“Please understand, I’m not mad at her,” Caline said quickly. “I think there’s more going on here than I’m privy to, but because the principal saw what happened, I’m afraid that she can’t come back until Friday.”

Adrien nodded and stood as Marinette got up. “Thank you for letting us know, Caline. We’ll have a talk with her and try to get to the bottom of this.”

“Thank you,” Adrien said.

Marinette opened her purse and placed the barrettes inside. “Ziggy, in.”

Ziggy flew into her purse. A moment later, all three adults could hear a small, high-pitched voice cry out, “Gaaah! Ziggy, no! Those are my cookies!”

From inside Adrien’s coat, Plagg let out a cackle.

They hugged again as Adrien stepped back, letting Marinette go first. She flashed him a smile and he grinned back as they left. Caline smiled warmly at the couple. They hadn’t even been able to finish college before getting married, and since then, their lives had just exploded. Still, it was obvious that after all these years they were still smitten with each other.

Caline settled in, her day now officially done. Well, aside from the grading. That could wait, though. She took out her phone and started flipping though articles until she landed on one that made her sit up straight in her chair.

There, on the home page of France 24 was a picture of Gina in a white body suit with black splotches. She was on her knees and looked like she had been put through a spin cycle. She was being hugged by a group of cheering small children while a city bus loomed in the background, its front smashed in with two hand imprints.

The article title read, “MIRACULOUS! FAUNUS SAVES SCHOOL CHILDREN FROM BUS DISASTER.”

Caline nearly dropped her phone.

“She had to catch a bus,” she quietly muttered. She looked at the article again.

“Holy shit.”

***

Gina was prepared for yelling. Possibly for a sharp comment or beratement. You know, the typical things parents did when they were mad.

Instead, she got so much worse.

Silence.

Her parents were eerily quiet the entire car ride home. Adrien drove. He didn’t have to; they could afford a driver, after all. Still, he preferred to do it. He hadn’t been allowed to get his license until after his father had passed, so Gina and Marinette both figured this was his way of making up for lost time.

It wasn’t until they had pulled into the drive and the engine was off that Marinette turned in her seat and stared down her daughter.

“Okay,” she said in a frighteningly calm voice. “Explain.”

Gina shrank in her seat and adjusted her glasses. “It wasn’t my fault. I was just eating lunch and suddenly Richter came up and started screaming at me. Like, seriously screaming. I could barely make out what he was saying. It spooked me, and I guess I, um, I hit him.”

She shrank in her seat. “I’m sorry.”

“That ain’t what ya told me,” Ziggy said as he floated out of Marinette’s purse. Adrien turned at that, his eyebrow cocked.

Gina glared at her kwami. “Traitor,” she growled.

“Gina!” Marinette snapped. “Talk. The truth. I hate lying.”

Gina turned red and hugged herself. “Fine. He was… He was sing-shouting Aunt Rose’s new song at me. You know, the one she, um, she wrote for Aunt Juleka?”

Adrien smiled a little. “He can sing?”

Marinette closed her eyes as she put two and two together. “Probably as well as Ivan can. Oh God, history is repeating itself.” Marinette rubbed her face. “Gina, did you punch a boy because he said he liked you?”

Gina tuned redder. “Um, kind of? His friends were making fun of him and he wasn’t stopping. I told him to, but I don’t think he could hear me. I figured… You know.”

“You decked him to help him save face?” Marinette asked. “How does that even work?”

Gina shrank in her seat. “I dunno.”

Adrien leaned in. “This _does_ sound a little familiar.”

Marinette shook her head. “Look, Gina. I, um, I get it. I do. Still, you can’t just hit someone, especially a friend.”

“You punched Aunt Chloé, like, two weeks ago,” Gina pointed out. Adrien snickered before he could catch himself.

“Sorry,” he said with an apologetic glance.

“You’re going outside tonight, kitty,” Marinette growled. She looked back to Gina. “That’s different. She and I have history, and she was transformed at the time.” Marinette paused. “And she usually deserves it.”

She leveled a glare at Gina. “Next time, walk away. Gina, please work with us a little. I gave you Ziggy because I saw something amazing in you, and I still do, but you need to start stepping up a little.”

Gina’s eye twitched. “Excuse me? Do you even know what I went through this morning?”

“Ziggy told us all about it. How you overslept again and had to catch a bus,” Marinette said. Gina, in shock, opened and closed her mouth like a fish as Marinette continued. “You need to start acting more responsibly if you’re going to be a holder, Gina. There’s…”

“ _That’s_ what you told her?” Gina snapped at Ziggy. Ziggy shrugged.

“What? We did, didn’t we?” Ziggy said.

Gina let out a cry of frustration as she rocked back in her seat. “I can’t believe you!”

Adrien cleared his throat. “Look, we’re not mad. We’re really not, but right now, if you’re going to use a miraculous, we need to you be the best Gina you can be.”

Gina looked at her parents. “What does _that_ mean?”

“It means you’re grounded from Ziggy.”

Gina blinked, stunned. “What?” She whispered. “Until when?”

“Until we get back,” Adrien said. “We have to be at the airport in under an hour, but when we get back, we’ll talk about this as a family.”

Gina stuttered and felt her face turning red, but she honestly didn’t know how to respond. She felt like the world was closing in on her. She pushed her glasses off her face as she rubbed her eyes. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. “I cannot believe you’re doing this to me. You aren’t even paying attention to what’s going on with me!”

“Of course we are!” Marinette said as Gina opened her car door. “Gina, please. We’re trying our best, but, Gina!”

Gina slammed her car door and stormed off towards the house. Marinette was about to open her door, but Adrien stopped her. “Let her burn off some steam,” he said. “I don’t like it, but I remember what this feels like. When we get back, we’ll give her Ziggy back and take her for a run.”

Marinette put her face in her hands and moaned. “Oh God. I’m my mother. I fucked that up, didn’t I? Did I just fuck up?”

Adrien reached over and rubbed her neck. “If you did, then I did, too. We’ll fix this as soon as we’re home. Now, we have to leave or we’re going to miss our flight.”

“We could teleport,” Marinette pointed out.

“We could,” Adrien said, “but we already bought the tickets.”

Marinette pounded the dash of the car. “Why did we do that? Seriously! One call to Max and boom! New York!”

“Next time,” Adrien said as he put the car in reverse. He looked up at their house as they pulled away.

He didn’t see Gina watching from her window as they left.

It wasn’t until they were well on their way to the airport and stuck in traffic that Marinette slipped out her phone to check the news. Adrien almost crashed the car when Marinette sat bolt upright and screamed out, “ **GINA**!”

Adrien looked over at her, exasperated. “Please don’t do that. I almost wrecked the car.”

Marinette looked at him, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. She turned the phone so he could see the front page of France 24.

Adrien’s jaw dropped. “She had…”

“…To catch a bus,” Marinette finished.

The looked at each other, and at the same time, said, “Holy shit.”

***

Gina was up in her attic bedroom, sulking the way that only a fourteen-year-old can. Emilie had taken Adrien’s old room the second they were able to sleep on their own, and at first her parents thought there might be a fight over which daughter got it, but her grandfather’s spooky, private attic study was simply too rad for Gina to pass up. Plus, the gigantic, creepy circular window that dominated the far wall was the most metal thing Gina had ever seen.

Gina hugged her stuffed black cat doll and sniffed as she looked around at the band posters that adorned her walls. She had truly made the space her own, and had even crammed a small art studio’s worth of desks, easels, and art bins in the corner. She had inherited some of her mother’s artistic talent, and she secretly hoped that it would be enough to have a career on her own in design.

Next to the art pile were her instruments; a keyboard and a guitar. She could play a little bass, and she was alright on the keyboard. She was getting better, you know, when she practiced.

“I can’t believe them,” she muttered. “After what I did? How could they do that to me after what I did?” She rolled over. “Hell, I saved Richter from himself, but did anyone thank me for that?”

She rolled onto her back again and tossed her black cat up in the air. “Oh, hey Gina. How come your hands are all bruised? Did something happen this morning?” She said to herself in her best impression of her dad.

She tossed it again. “Gosh, Gina. We saw on the news that you caught a fucking city bus with your bare hands and saved a bunch of little kids. But hey, you’re not hero material just yet. Now excuse us while we go wipe your sister’s ass and play in America.” She pitched her voice to be somewhat like her mother.

Gina caught her black cat stuffy and punched it in the face. “Stupid, perfect stupid firstborn sister with her stupid kwami and stupid perfect skin.” Gina said, scowling. “She’s sooo great, but I do something cool and what do I get?”

She threw her black cat stuffy up.

It didn’t come down.

Gina blinked. She looked to her side to see Alix standing there, holding the plushy in midair.

“How about a field trip with your favorite aunt?” Alix asked, grinning. “Would that work?”

“Aunt Alix!” Gina cried out. She hopped off her bed and tackled Alix in a hug. Hands down, Alix was Gina’s favorite aunt. She had tattoos, she dressed like a punk rocker, she lived in a cool studio apartment, and no matter what, she _always_ had free time for Gina. She was smart, too. Alix had heard her speak in no less than eight languages, _and_ she could do a perfect kickflip. She was the coolest adult Gina knew.

“When did you get here?”

Alix thought about it. “Well, I popped in about ten minutes before you got home, got Fluff a snack, chilled in your basement rec room, had some popcorn, went through your parents liquor cabinet, remembered why I was here, and came up to see you. Now, come on, kid,” Alix said as she blew a bubble. “We’re blowing this popsicle stand.”

It used to unnerve her how Aunt Alix could magically appear wherever she damn well felt like, but Gina got over that. For Gina, it just added to Alix’s cool-level.

Gina smiled, but backed away a bit, uneasy. “But, I’m grounded. I punched out Richter at school.”

Alix laughed. “Heh, yeah. Mylene is gonna be pissed for about two days, three hours, and twenty-seven minutes, give or take. Also, you’re grounded from Ziggy, not from going out with me.”

Gina shuffled a bit. “True, but if I leave, Emilie will rat me out.”

“Emmy ain’t here, kiddo. She’s doing a modeling shoot and won’t be home until 8:37pm.”

It always unsettled Gina how her aunt knew _exactly_ when people would be coming and going.

“Where will we go to?” Gina asked.

Alix slid her pocket watch out and held it up. “Fluff, clockwise!”

Gina watched, mesmerized, as Alix transformed into her blue and white persona, Bunnyx. She looked at Gina and winked. “You should be asking _when_ will we go to?”

Gina grinned.

***

The Burrow was like being in the television store of the Gods, which honestly, it kind of was. Gina looked around at the thousands of monitors in awe. While Alix hung out with her often, she was particular about letting people into the Burrow. Gina had only been her a couple of times, and this was the first time Alix hadn’t bothered to blindfold her. “Is all this going on right now?”

Alix chuckled. “Sweetie, right now there’s no such thing as ‘right now.’ In here, we stand outside of time. This is everything, everywhere. It’s where I spend my weeknights.”

Gina nodded. She tried to take everything in, but she was having trouble. “There’s so much going on,” she murmured as she adjusted her glasses.

“There is, but I’m only interested in this.” Alix stopped in front of a large monitor and gestured for Gina to watch. On it, she saw what looked like a giant, purple gorilla swinging Ladybug around by the ankle. She looked like a rag doll.

Gina blinked, confused. Her mother looked smaller than normal, younger…

“Is this the past?” Gina asked, amazed.

Bunnyx nodded. “It is. On this day, Ladybug defeated Gorizilla yet again. Or at least, that’s what history is _supposed_ to say.”

Gina looked up at her aunt. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and brought her jacket close to her. “What do you mean, ‘supposed to say’?

Alix bit her lip and shrugged. “Well, for some reason, Chat Noir is nowhere to be seen. The timeline has been altered, and I’m afraid that if we don’t rectify this, well…”

Alix pulled her thumb across her neck as she made a “Pbbt,” noise.

Gina choked. “But, no! That’s not… We have to save her! You have to save her!”

Alix laughed. “Kid, this ain’t my scene. History doesn’t say a thing about me popping up. It simply said that Ladybug and her partner took the giant ape down.”

Gina felt her blood pressure rising. “Then where’s dad? Why isn’t he there with her?”

Alix smirked. “Good question!” She swiped her finger across the screen. The view changed to what looked to Gina like Emilie’s room, but with more video games and sports junk.

Gina squinted at the figure passed out in the admittedly large bed. “Is that dad?”

Alix nodded. “Your father is suffering from the chicken pox. It’s hit him pretty bad and he’s out cold at the moment, loopy on meds.”

Alix turned to Gina. “So, here’s the deal. If we don’t do something soon, your mother is going to be squished, the bad guys will win, and you will cease to exist.”

Gina blanched.

Alix popped a bubble. “Sorry.”

“Whaaaaaat do you need me to do?” Gina asked, uncertain.

Alix grinned. She gestured to the portal in front of them. “Your dad is completely out of it. I’m sure he won’t miss, say, a stray piece of jewelry?”

Gina bit her lip and pulled her jacket close. “I don’t… I messed up today, Aunt Alix. I don’t know that I should. I’m not… I’ll just mess it up.”

Alix quit grinning and dropped to one knee in front of Gina. “Gina? Sweetie? I don’t know what got into your head today, but, well, look.”

Alix reached over and swiped the portal again. Gina’s eyes widened as she watched herself leap in front of a speeding bus. While she had of course been there herself, it was different watching it on television. She had been hopped up on so much adrenaline that she hadn’t registered what was actually happening.

Gina’s eyes went wide. “Wow,” she murmured. She watched as the bus actually lifted off the ground when it collided with her, sheerly from the force of impact. She looked to Alix, who was smiling at her. “I mean, it all happened so fast. I didn’t have time to think, but… How am I not dead?”

Alix put her hand on Gina’s shoulder. “I’m not supposed to tell people their futures. I’m supposed to let things happen as they happen and let fate take its course. That being said. Gina,” She looked Gina in the eye. “This right here? Compared to what’s coming… This was _nothing_. You are going to be amazing.”

Gina sniffed and smiled. “You mean it?”

Alix hugged her. “I know you think your parents are titans, and that your sister is some sort of goddess, but Gina? Trust me. I know what I’m talking about when I say you are a Goddamn hero through and through.”

Gina let out a laugh that could easily have been mistaken for a sob. “Thanks,” she said as she hugged her aunt back.

“I mean it,” Alix said. “And your parents? They know it, too. Now,” She pointed her thumb at the portal. “You feel like robbing your dad while he’s passed out?”

Gina wiped her face and grinned.

***

Ladybug was not having a good day.

Being late to class was one thing. Getting into it with Lila in the girl’s restroom? That had royally sucked. Also, having a terse spat with Alya over said fight? Again, not the best.

Still, all that tended to pale in comparison to a giant blue gorilla slamming you head-first into a brick wall.

Ladybug braced for impact as she crashed into the side of an office building. Gorizilla, apparently tired of beating her against things, had decided to try his hand at throwing her. Hard. Ladybug let out an “Oof!” As she bounced off the bricks and landed on the concrete below.

She clutched her arm and winced. Her leg felt like it had been yanked out of its socket, and her vision was a little blurry. The fight had been going so well, too! At least it _had_ , until Gorizilla had managed to catch her in mid-air.

Things got a little fuzzy after that.

“This is not how I saw my afternoon going,” Ladybug muttered. She looked up at the massive beast as it lumbered towards her. She once again frantically scanned the skyline for her partner, but he was nowhere to be seen. Ladybug frowned.

“Kitty, where _are_ you?” She asked. She went to move, but a sharp pain in her side made her lock up. Unfortunately, that was the critical moment that she needed if she was to escape. As Gorizilla stood over her and raised his foot to crush her, she closed her eyes and tensed. “Sorry kitty,” she whispered. “I tried.”

**“BACK THE _FUCK_ OFF!”**

Ladybug’s eyes shot open as a metal pole shot across the street and smashed Gorizilla square in the face. The force of the blow was so strong that it sent him reeling back into the side of an apartment building.

Before he could recover, Ladybug saw a black blur fly across the sky and crash into the giant beast’s chest. Gorizilla let out a cry of pain as the black figure flipped backwards, stopping in midair to bring the metal staff up, over their head and down onto the monster’s skull.

Ladybug blinked. “Chat?” She was grateful for the save, but confused. Her kitty was unusually violent this afternoon.

The black figure came crashing down on top of Gorizilla and started pounding the beast in the face.

“You think you can hurt her? Huh? You wanna pick a fight? Step up! Step right up! I am having a day!” With each punch, Ladybug felt a small shockwave ripple out as it pushed the air around her. It was like standing in the water at the shore as the tide was coming in. In between each punch, a voice could be heard screaming.

“Don’t!”

BAM!

“You!”

BAM!

_“Ever!”_

BAM!

“Touch!”

BAM!

“Her!”

KABAM!”

The last punch was so strong that the ape’s head not only slammed back into the apartment building, it went _through_ the wall. The building slumped and, to Ladybug’s horror, actually slid as it collapsed on top of Gorizilla.

The debris cloud covered everything, and the noise from the collapse was enough to make Ladybug’s ears ring. She coughed and tried to look around, but it was hard to make out much of anything.

She felt a hand on her arm gently helping her up. She coughed and struggled to her feet, but before she could collapse, her partner caught her.

“Are you okay?” A voice frantically asked.

Ladybug coughed and nodded. She tried to right herself, but she was still a bit dizzy.

“Mom!” She felt herself being held as she got her sense of balance. “Hey, take it easy. Are you hurt? What did he do to you? Can you stand?”

Ladybug blinked. “I’m okay, I’m…”

Waaaaaaaaaiiiiit.

Ladybug looked at the mysterious figure beside her as the smoke cleared.

“G… Artemis?!”

Artemis grinned and put her hand behind her head, scratching her mop of brown hair as she did so. “Um, hi?”

Ladybug looked her over, confused as all get-out. It was still surreal to see her future daughter, especially in her own Lady Noir outfit. “What are you _doing_ here? Where’s Chat Noir?”

Artemis shrugged. “He called in sick. I’m your fill-in.” She shrank a bit as she looked at Ladybug. “Um, is that okay with you?”

Ladybug laughed and gave her a smile. “Of course it is. I was just thrown, that’s all. So,” She took out her yoyo. “For the record? That was pretty impressive.”

Artemis grinned. “Thanks!”

Ladybug pointed at her. “But we don’t swear in costume.”

Artemis blushed. “Um, oh. Sorry.”

“It’s cool,” Ladybug said as she threw her yoyo in the air. “Lucky Charm!”

A feather came down.

Both girls blinked.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Artemis asked.

Ladybug looked to Gorizilla as he struggled to free himself. “Okay, the akuma is in his phone. If we can get to that, we win.”

Gina looked over at the giant monster as he finished pushing the last of the building debris off of himself. As he stood and shook himself off, he gave a deafening roar and pounded his chest.

Gina’s eyes went wide as she got a good look at the monster’s face. “Wait,” she said. She put her hand on Ladybug’s shoulder. “Who is that? Do you know?”

Ladybug nodded. “He’s the bodyguard of Adrien Agreste. I’m not sure what his real name is, but we call him the Gorilla.”

Artemis stared in shock. She instantly felt bad about beating the tar out of her Grandpa, but more than that, as she looked again at the feather in Ladybug’s hands, she knew how they were going to win.

When they were small, her Grandpa would come over and play monster with Gina and Emilie. Gina smiled to herself as she remembered that no matter what, there was a quick and easy way to win, every time.

“Ladybug,” Artemis said. “I’m going to pin his arms. You need to take that feather,” she pointed at the lucky charm, “and use it to tickle him on the ribs. Get his left side, near his stomach.”

Ladybug looked at Artemis and then at Gorizilla. “Seriously?” She said.

Artemis twirled her staff and nodded. “Trust me. Believe it or not, I’ve done this before.”

Before Ladybug could protest, Artemis jumped and landed a flying kick to Gorizilla. As the ape reeled back, Artemis landed and leapt again to get beside the ape. As Gorizilla put his massive arms back to right himself, Artemis extended her staff. It slid under his arms and slammed into the side of an office building, locking firmly in place.

Gorizilla was pinned. His arms now trapped behind him. Again, the massive beast fell backwards with a crash.

Ladybug wasted no time. She sprang forward and jumped on top of him. She took the feather and began tickling where Artemis had told her to. “Cootchie, cootchie coo!” Ladybug sang.

Gorizilla roared with laughter. Artemis held on for dear life to keep his arms pinned back, but she felt her staff slipping in her hands as the monster spasmed. “Come on,” she said through her teeth. “Just… Let it… Go…”

Gorizilla was crying with laughter and turning from side to side as Ladybug kept it up. Artemis watched his right hand as he let a tiny cell phone drop.

“Oh, thank God,” Artemis said as she let go of the staff and ran for the phone. She grabbed it in a roll and clenched it in her hand as she said, “Cataclysm!”

The phone crumbled in her hand. Ladybug stopped tickling long enough to swipe the purple butterfly that appeared moments later. She then jumped off the monster as it dissolved back into a confused bodyguard.

Artemis approached him and carefully helped him to his feet. She gently dusted him off and asked, “Um, are you okay, Sir?”

The Gorilla blinked at her, confused. When he saw the concerned look all over the young girl’s face, he smiled and nodded.

Artemis, grateful that he was okay, surprised him with a quick hug. The Gorilla, not sure what else to do, patted her on the back.

Artemis quickly stepped back and smiled up at him. “I’m just really glad you’re alright. Please take care of yourself, Sir.”

The Gorilla smiled down at her and nodded as he began to lumber off. Artemis watched him go and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Miraculous Ladybugs!” Ladybug screamed as a wave of red washed over the city. Instantly, the massive amount of damage was gone. Ladybug sighed in relief and then took a deep breath. “Oh, that’s better.”

“Better?” Artemis asked as she waved again to the Gorilla. He was already back on his way to the drug store for more medicine for Adrien.

Ladybug stretched her arm across her chest. “Yeah. I didn’t want to say anything, but I think he broke a rib or two when he threw me. And my ankle. And my wrist. That was awful.”

Artemis’s eyes went wide. “Are, um, are you okay?”

Ladybug grinned at her. “All better.” She put out her fist.

Artemis grinned and met it with hers.

“Pound it!”

“Ladybug! Chat Noir!” A voice called out behind them. Both heroes turned to see Alya rushing up to them, phone in hand. Alya’s eyes went wide as she realized Chat Noir wasn’t Chat Noir.

“Oh, my God!” Alya squeaked. “You’re Artemis, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Yes.” Gina tried to stand a bit straighter and coughed. She had heard stories about how obsessive Aunt Alya was with her blog. “That is who I am.”

“This is amazing!” Alya gushed. “That was some of the best fight footage I’ve ever seen! So tell me, are you the new Chat Noir? Has he retired? How many Chats are there?”

“She’s just helping out for today,” Ladybug said with a smile and a wink. “Kind of like when I partner with Rena Rouge.”

Alya blushed a bit. “I see,” she said. “So, um, will we be seeing more of you, Artemis?”

Artemis blushed heavily and shuffled her feet. “Um, time will tell?”

Ladybug snorted and gave Artemis a shove. “That was awful.”

Artemis frowned. “It’s my furrst day.”

Ladybug groaned. “Okay, first off, no it’s not. Second, cat puns?”

Artemis shrugged and borrowed a line she had heard her dad use. “It’s part of the power set?”

Ladybug put her hand to her face and groaned. “No! It’s! Not! Why do you all say that?”

They were interrupted by beeping coming from their miraculous. Ladybug looked to Alya and offered an apologetic shrug. “Okay. Sorry, Alya, but we need to go.” She wrapped an arm around Artemis and threw her yoyo at a nearby ledge. “Bug out!”

Alya watched them go, practically hopping up and down as they did. “This is SO COOL!” She yelled.

And with that, the two heroes sailed off, disappearing a moment later over the Paris skyline.

***

Gina sat in the patio chair on Marinette’s balcony and said thank you as Marinette offered her a glass of juice. Beside her, Plagg was devouring a piece of camembert that Marinette had found in the back of the bakery fridge.

“Cheers,” Marinette said as they clinked glasses together. Marinette took a seat to the side of Gina and after a long sip, asked, “So really, what brings you by today?”

Gina wiped her mouth and set her drink down. “Well, I, um, I just had a rough day, and um, some stuff happened, and Aunt Alix showed up saying you were going to lose if you didn’t get any help.”

Ladybug paled a little. “Really? Geez. That’s… Oof.” She raised her glass. “Thanks, Bunnyx.”

Gina nodded. “I almost didn’t come, but she showed me what was happening and, um… I couldn’t let you die.”

Marinette looked over at Gina and felt something tighten in her chest. “Hey,” she said, ignoring the D word as best she could. She saw the look on Gina’s face and asked, “Is everything okay?”

Gina looked at her and sniffed. “I just don’t get it, you know?”

“Get what?”

Gina sniffed and shook her head. “How is it that you can be so cool at this age and so damn not-you in my time?”

Marinette blinked. “Pardon?”

“You grounded me today,” Gina said, exasperated. “This morning, I saved a group of school children and was late for school, and no one cared. I nearly died, and when I tried to explain what happened, all I got was, ‘you need to be more responsible, blah, blah, blah.’”

Marinette frowned. “I grounded you for being a hero?”

“You didn’t give me time to explain,” Gina said. “And Ziggy was a complete jerk about it, too.”

Marinette looked at Gina’s hair and noticed the lack of barrettes. “Where _is_ Ziggy?”

“You grounded me from him,” Gina chuffed. “You didn’t think I was being ‘responsible’ enough. And then you and dad left for America for some stupid business thing that you’ve been working on. I dunno.”

Marinette felt a knot in her stomach. “I… I went full mom on you?”

Gina nodded. “Yeah. I, um, I almost cussed you out in the car. Sorry.”

Marinette glanced at Plagg as he continued to eat her cheese. “And you stole Plagg again?”

“In her defense,” Plagg said with a burp. “The last time, she stole future Plagg. I’m Plagg classic.”

“So, you stole my Chat’s Plagg?” Marinette asked, deadpan.

Gina shrank in her seat and bit her lip. “Um, I was told to?”

Marinette continued to glare. Gina frowned. “Look, he’s not exactly up to helping you today, okay? Daaaaaaaaaat person is home sick and I was told to step in. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Marinette’s face softened a bit. “I know you didn’t. Besides, Plagg here doesn’t seem to mind.”

Plagg shrugged. “Meh. That’s ‘cause I know what’s going on.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow as Gina paled a bit. “Oh? How so?”

Plagg gestured to Gina and popped another piece of cheese in his mouth. “As in, I know who Freckles here is, so I’m cool with this.”

Marinette looked from Plagg to Gina, who was panicking. “Plagg?” Marinette said cautiously. “You know who… You know who Gina’s dad is?”

Plagg burped and nodded. “Yep.” He looked over at Tikki, who was sitting beside Marinette with a cookie in her hands. She was staring daggers at him. “And I ain’t telling,” Plagg said with a smug smile.

Gina breathed a sigh of relief. Plagg looked up at her and grinned. “You’re cool, Freckles. My guy doesn’t get _nearly_ as into a beatdown as you do. You’ve got some rage issues. I respect that.”

He put out a tiny fist. Gina, laughing, bumped it with her own. “Thanks, Plagg.”

He looked to Marinette and said, “She’s right, by the way. Your regular is laid up at home. He’s so out of it you could detransform in front of him and he’d think you were the meter maid.”

Marinette relaxed a bit. She felt better knowing that Gina had been truthful with her, but in looking at the girl sitting across from her, she got the feeling that Gina would have been honest, anyway.

“Hey,” Marinette said. “Look, I feel weird apologizing for something I know I’m going to do in the future, but I’m sorry I was, will be, so hard on you. If I was, I can only assume it’s because I was worried.”

Gina brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “I know that. You know? I mean, I’m not dumb. I get why parents are jerks. Still, the bus thing? Getting suspended? It was just a lot to deal with, s’all.”

Marinette sat up. “Wait. You got suspended? What happened?”

“Oh yeah, um, that.” Gina offered a sheepish grin. “I, um, punched out a boy while he was scream-singing a love confession at me during lunch.”

Marinette blinked and laughed. “Man, that sounds like Ivan.”

Gina shrugged. “Yeah, it was his son.”

Marinette put up her hand. “No future stuff, please. I don’t want to mess anything up.”

“Sorry,” Gina said. “He was going full blast, and he was choking on it, and his friends were laughing at him, and I was so embarrassed. Like for him, too, you know? So, um, I went with the first thing that came to mind.”

“And that was punching him in the face?”

Gina shrugged. “I’ve never had a boy do that before. I panicked.” She looked to Marinette. “Are, um, are you going to tell me I shouldn’t have done that?”

Marinette shrugged. “Look, when Adrien finally asked me out, I, um, I screamed into a pillow for nearly an hour and actually passed out. I have no room to talk.”

“How’s that going?” Gina asked. She felt a small smile creeping across her face.

Marinette blushed. “Oh, fine. It’s fine. We’re taking it slow, you know? But I don’t want to talk about this in front of you. I mean, I don’t want to weird you out by talking about people who aren’t your dad…” Marinette’s eyes went wide. “Is he your dad? OH MY GOD DO WE GET MARRIED?”

Gina recoiled and put her hands out. “I’m not allowed to say! Please stop staring at me like that.”

Marinette wiped some drool from her mouth and took a breath. “You’re right. Sorry. I… Sorry. Hey,” Marinette said. “You wanna know a secret? Something I bet future me hasn’t shared with you?”

Gina nodded.

“I’ve been expelled before,” Marinette said.

Gina choked on her juice. “Are you serious? You?”

Marinette nodded. “It was a whole thing. It got resolved, but yeah. I was kicked out once, so, you know. I don’t have a lot of room to talk.” She thought about it for a moment. “Future me is probably going to be angry I said that to you.”

“On that, what advice do you have for me?” Gina asked. “You know, for dealing with you?”

Marinette sniggered. “Oboy. Look, I try to do what’s right, Gina. Sometimes, I screw up. Like today. I went in with a plan and I completely blew it. Sometimes I act without thinking, and I’ve occasionally been known to jump to conclusions.”

Plagg choked on his cheese. “You want to stop sugarcoating?” He looked to Gina and grinned. “Your mom is, in technical terms, a Goddamn mess.”

“Plagg!” Tikki snapped. Marinette held up a hand to stop her and sighed.

“No, no. He’s right.”

Plagg snickered. “She’s got pictures of her crush hanging everywhere in her room. She even has a chart of his daily activities so she can ‘accidentally’ bump into him when he’s out. She a bona fide stalker!”

Gina looked at Marinette, who cringed. “I think,” Gina slowly said, “That I’m getting why Aunt Alix let me meet you. You really are a mess.”

Marinette frowned, but Gina got up and hugged her before Marinette could say anything.

“You’re a mess. Just like me,” Gina said in a soft voice.

Marinette stiffened.

“You don’t have anything figured out. You stumble through things and they don’t always work for you. You screw up. You were expelled. You’re… Oh God, I _am_ your daughter.”

Marinette patted her on the back. “Please, don’t stop. Continue.”

Gina let her go and adjusted her glasses. “Um, sorry.”

“So,” Marinette said. “About this boy.”

Gina sat back down and adjusted her shirt. Marinette noticed the _Kitty Section_ patch on the side of Gina’s jacket and smiled to herself.

“Well, um, I dunno? I mean, Richter’s cool, I guess. He’s a friend, though. You know? I mean, it would be like me dating André.”

“André?” Marinette asked.

Gina nodded. “Aunt Chloé and Aunt Sabrina’s son. He and I grew up together.” A small smile crept across her face. “He looks a LOT like Aunt Chloé, you know, tan and all? He’s lanky and stubborn, and helpful, and… He’s my best friend.”

Marinette smiled and covered her mouth. She had seen that look before, mainly in the mirror when talking about Adrien.

“So, what are you going to do?”

Gina shrugged. “I really don’t know? I guess I should apologize and stuff. I didn’t mean to hit him, but, um, yeah. Things happened.”

“Hey,” Marinette said. She reached over and gave Gina’s hand a squeeze. “You shouldn’t feel like you should have to date someone just because they asked you, okay? If he’s truly your friend, talk to him. He’ll understand.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Gina asked.

Marinette thought on it. “Then it was a well-deserved black eye.”

Gina giggled. “God, why can’t you be like this in the future?”

Marinette shrugged. “Dunno. Maybe my job is mentally draining? I really can’t say.”

“Oh!” Gina said. “Um, I was told to give you a message this morning. It was, um, from a lady.”

Marinette blinked. “A message?”

Gina nodded. “It didn’t make any sense at the time, but she told me to tell Captain Cowbell that Annabell says hello.”

Marinette took a moment before she doubled over with hysterical laughter. She laughed so hard that she rolled off her chair and collapsed on the ground. Gina watched, concerned, as Marinette started coughing. She held up her hand. “Oh God,” she wheezed. “Give me a second. Just one second. Oh man.”

Gina helped her back up. “Sooo, you know what she was talking about?”

Marinette wiped a tear away as she nodded. She took out her phone and searched for a moment. “Where is it? I sent it to myself. I know I did… Here.” She turned the phone to show Gina a video of someone who was clearly using the goat miraculous. She looked older and had an interesting jacket, and she was being hugged by a small blonde girl.

“You’ll always be Captain Cowgirl to me!” The little girl cried out.

Gina snickered. “Ah, okay, yeah. That’s why she thought… Heh. Who was that?”

Marinette smiled. “Just someone I trust.”

“She looks like an adult,” Gina said.

Marinette nodded. “She’s probably the one adult outside of my parents I trust the most. I probably shouldn’t reveal who she is, though. That’s not for me to say.”

Gina shrugged. “Point,” she said. “The jacket was interesting, though. I didn’t know we could do that.”

Marinette scrolled her pictures forward to show Gina a picture of Cheshire. Gina looked at it and whistled. “Okay, damn. I should have gone with that.”

Plagg shrugged. “That’s all you, Freckles. We kwamis bend ourselves to your subconscious.” He pointed. “For the record, she was one bad gal, let me tell you.”

Marinette nodded. “She beat down Myura so bad I didn’t see an akuma or an amok for a month afterwards. It was so nice.”

Gina smiled at that. “Cool,” she said. She looked out over the city and let out a sigh. “You know, Emmy and I fight over your old room when we visit Gramma and Grandpa.”

Marinette smiled at that. It was at least good to know her parents would still be here, and that her own children would get to know them. “Really? You don’t both take it?”

Gina shrugged. “I mean, eventually. This patio is awesome, so we usually fight over who gets to use it.” Gina settled back and frowned. “Usually she wins.”

‘Hmm,” Marinette said, thinking. She and Gina sat for a moment and looked out over the skyline.

“Say, Gina?”

“Yeah?”

Marinette bit her lip as she thought carefully about her next words. “So, you and I had a fight just before you came back here?”

Gina nodded. “Yeah,” she said as she took a sip of juice. “We don’t fight much, if it’s any consolation. Why?”

Marinette glanced over at her future daughter. “Well, it’s just… You came at that akuma like you wanted to kill it, and you went out of your way to make sure I was OK. I’m just surprised. It sounded like you were really angry at me.”

Gina turned red and looked away from Marinette. “I mean, just because I was mad at you doesn’t mean I want you to be hurt. You’re my mom.” Gina set her juice down and hugged herself. “I still love you.”

Marinette felt her heart swell as Gina started to stutter. “I mean, and like, that was adult you, anyway. This version of you is like weird, cool, approachable you. If that makes sense. Does that make sense?”

“You know what I think?” Marinette said with a smile. “I think I’m going to raise one fantastic person. Say,” she said. “You up for some Mecha Strike III, fantastic person?”

In point of fact, Gina had all 12 Mecha Strikes. She had downloaded the anniversary collection just last Christmas.

She smirked at Marinette. “Bring it on.”

They ended up playing for two hours. Marinette found herself winning more than losing, but Gina was proving to be a formidable opponent. She was going for a best of thirty as they were interrupted by the trap door to Marinette’s room suddenly opening. Marinette let out a surprised squawk and Gina froze as Sabine popped her head up to check on her daughter.

“Marinette? Honey, it’s time for dinner and… Gina?”

Gina blinked and waved. “Uh, hi?”

“Mom!” Marinette stuttered. “Please don’t just barge in. I could have had a boy up here, you know?”

Sabine shot Marinette a look. “Okay, sweetie? Let’s be real for a second. And furthermore, why didn’t you tell me your friend was visiting?”

Gina snickered at her mom’s embarrassment. “Um, I just stopped by. Sorry Grrraaai mean Ms. Cheng. I can get going so you can eat. I, um, I need to drop something off, anyway.”

Marinette noticed that Gina was fiddling with the silver ring on her finger. She wondered, _‘Is Chat Noir really that sick? Should I visit him?’_ She let it go, though. She wasn‘t sure how she would begin to see him, and if there was a chance his identity would slip, then it was probably better not to go digging. Plus, Adrien was also laid up with the chicken pox. She needed to put her attentions towards him.

Sabine shook her head and waved the young girl’s comment off. “Nonsense. You, little lady, are staying for dinner.”

Gina started to protest, but Sabine put her hand up. “Stop. I will not hear otherwise. Now both of you, wash your hands and be at the table in five minutes. I mean it.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” they said in unison.

As soon as Sabine left, Marinette looked to Gina and asked, “So, does that ever change?”

Gina shook her head. “No. That, um, that’s about how it always is when we visit.”

Marinette let out a long sigh.

***

Dinner was wonderful. At first, Gina thought that Sabine had actually known she was there and had gone the extra mile in preparing a feast, but according to Marinette, this was just a standard dinner in their household. Gina didn’t care, though. A huge grandparent meal after a long day was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Gina had to stop after her third helping of roast turkey and mashed potatoes. “Please, no. I am beyond full,” she said as Sabine tried to load her plate again. You know that moment you realize you’re full but keep eating anyway because your stomach hasn’t caught up?

Yeah, she hit that about 20 minutes ago.

Gina covered her mouth to quietly burp as she watched Marinette joke and laugh with her family. Just seeing them together gave her a warm feeling inside. It was so weird to see her mother, a woman who carried herself with a constant air of authority and confidence in her time as a bumbling, awkward, laughing girl. It made Gina feel… Well, less alone.

That’s the best way to put it.

She was so used to seeing everyone around her just nailing it that she sometimes wondered if she was actually an Agreste, or if she had been secretly adopted. Now though?

“So,” Tom asked as Marinette pushed her plate away. “I understand you snuck Gina upstairs?”

“Sorry,” Marinette said. “We just didn’t see you when we arrived, is all. I didn’t know it would be a problem, otherwise…”

Tom laughed. “Not at all! I had just hoped it would have been a boy. Can’t start too early, you know!”

Marinette flushed and gripped the table. “Dad! Wha… What?!”

Sabine stood to take everyone’s plates. “He’s right, you know. You should get in all the practice you can.” She reached over for Gina’s plate. Gina picked it up and handed it to her as her eyes darted from Sabine to Marinette and back again.

“After all,” Sabine said as she collected the silverware. “Grandchildren won’t make themselves, will they? I expect you to deliver, young lady.”

“Mom?! What the heck?” Marinette blurted out. She was breaking out in a cold sweat.

Tom shook his head. “Why couldn’t she have snuck Adrien up there? I mean, she has that big beanbag, the bed, her hammock…”

Sabine nodded wisely. “I agree. They could have been practicing this whole time. Positions, techniques… Dear me, I hope the boy has the proper amount of stamina.”

Gina ducked her head and covered her mouth. “Oh, my God,” she muttered as Marinette’s head hit the table.

“I want you to work on being sneaky, young lady,” Sabine chided. She looked to Gina and winked. “How many grandkids do you think I can get out of her?”

Gina looked to Marinette and then back to Sabine. Without really moving, she said, “I would put money on at least two.”

“THANK YOU BOTH MAY WE PLEASE BE EXCUSED THANK YOU BYE.” Marinette stood and grabbed Gina by the wrist. Tom and Sabine watched as their daughter dragged their houseguest to the door.

“Thank you for the meal!” Gina called out. “This was very kind of you, and I appreciated it! You’re both really nice!”

Tom and Sabine waved as the two girls burst out the door. As soon as they were gone, Sabine looked to Tom and said, “Too much?”

Tom shook his head. “Not at all. Need any help?”

Sabine bumped against him as she headed to the kitchen. “I do in fact, but not with the dishes.”

“Oh?” Tom asked as he stood.

Sabine nodded. “I could use a refresher on how to be sneaky. If you have time, that is.”

Tom blinked as a lightbulb went off above his head. “Oooohhh.”

Tom gathered the rest of the dishes and eagerly followed his wife to the kitchen.

***

“Oh. My. God.” Marinette said as she leaned against a light pole and hyperventilated. “They’re never that bad!” She looked to Gina, who was still covering her mouth. “They did this because you were here, you know.”

Gina nodded. “Um, they’re that bad around me in my time, too.”

Marinette smiled at that. “Well, that’s a good thing, right? I mean, that means they’re still playful. And if they’re playful, that means they still love each other.” She looked back at the bakery just as the lights inside went out. She grinned and shook her head. “So, it looks like I can’t go back in for a bit. Um, do you need help finding Chat’s house from here?”

Gina shook her head. She wanted to stay, more than anything, in fact. She wanted to hang out in the attic and play video games. She wanted to be coddled by her grandparents and not be back home where everyone walked on water and looked like models, which to be fair was because they _were_ , but I digress.

Gina wanted to be here, and now, with the friend version of her mom.

Gina adjusted her glasses and held her right arm. “Um, no, I’m good. I can manage. I just, um, this was really nice.”

She looked at Marinette and said in a small voice. “Please don’t be offended, but I’m a little scared to go back.”

Marinette felt her heart break. She walked to Gina and wrapped her in a hug as she said, “I never, ever want to think that one of my kids will grow up to be afraid of me. Listen,” she squeezed Gina and whispered in her ear. “I don’t care how scary I get or how old. I will always love you.”

Gina felt her voice catch as she hugged her mom back. “You’ve known me for two days, tops. How can you say that?”

“That’s all it took,” Marinette said. “You’re my daughter. It doesn’t matter that we haven’t officially met yet. All your visits have done is make me want to meet you more.”

Gina felt herself shake as Marinette held her tight. “But you… You don’t… Back home, sometimes it feels like you aren’t hearing me when I speak.”

Marinette nodded. “Well, in my defense, I’m a scatterbrain. Tell you what,” she leaned back and looked Gina in the eyes. “If you don’t think I can hear you, you know what you should do?”

Gina shook her head. “What?”

Marinette smiled as she leaned in and placed her forehead against Gina’s. “Speak louder. Make me listen.”

Gins shuddered. “That’s easy for you to say.”

Marinette nodded. “And easier for you to do. Trust me. I. Will. Listen.”

“And what if you don’t?” Gina asked. “I mean, no offense? But I know you in the future better than you do.” She looked quickly at Marinette and mumbled. “Sorry.”

“Hmm,” Marinette thought about that. “Well then, it sounds like future-me might be forgetting _how_ to listen. So, make me remember.” She winked at Gina.

Gina nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I mean, I don’t know if this will work or not, but okay. I… Thanks, um, mom.”

Marinette’s eyes went wide as she suddenly remembered something. “Oh! I almost forgot!” She dug in her pocket for a second before pulling out what looked like a black and white thread bracelet. She held it out to Gina.

“A good luck charm,” she said proudly. “I guarantee it will provide you with good luck when dealing with the likes of me.”

Gina blushed heavily. “I don’t… Usually we’re cool, you know. Um, thank you.” She took the bracelet and tried to put it on her wrist, but couldn’t. Frustrated, she slid her jean jacket off and tied it through a loop on the shoulder.

“I, um, I should go,” she said. She went in for one more hug. “Thank you again. This was, I really, truly needed this today.”

“You’re gonna be an awesome hero,” Marinette said, patting her on the back. “I love you, and I’m proud of you.”

“You can’t be proud of me,” Gina said. “I haven’t done anything.”

Marinette playfully punched her shoulder. “You’ve saved my life twice and you haven’t even been born yet. If that’s not worthy of pride, I’m not sure what is. Now, get out of here, hero. I’m sure Chat is missing his ring.”

Gina smiled and nodded. She looked around and confirmed no one was watching as she balled her hand into a fist and said, “Plagg, claws out!”

Marinette watched as Artemis, the unsung hero of Paris, launched herself over the rooftops and out of sight. She sighed contentedly and was about to go back inside, but then remembered the lights going off.

“Oh. Right,” she said. “Tikki?”

Tikki floated out of her purse and looked at the darkened bakery. “Yeah, don’t go in there right now.”

Marinette nodded in agreement. Sighing, she slipped out her phone and dialed Alya to see if she wanted to hang out for the evening.

***

Artemis landed as quietly as possible on the window ledge of Adrien’s room and gently opened the window. The room was dark, cast in shadows, but the sound of Adrien’s snoring was drifting on the evening air. Gina whispered, “Plagg, claws in.” A flash of light later, and Gina was tiptoeing across the room to place the ring as gently as she could beside Adrien’s head.

“Hey,” Plagg whispered to her as she turned to leave. “Freckles?”

Gina looked back at the floating kwami. He wasn’t smirking, or laughing, or doing anything she was used to seeing him do. Instead, he was just looking at her, his face neutral.

“I don’t know what kind of shit they gave you back home, but you’re better than that,” he said. He floated to within a few inches of her face and said, “Lemmie tell you a secret. I’ve had a lot of holders, and when they wear me, I can feel their emotions, intent, you know. Who they are.”

He pointed a paw at Gina and whispered, “You’re better than you think you are. You need me in the future? Just ask. I’ll happily break things with you again.”

Gina smiled. “Thanks,” she whispered.

Behind her, a portal of white light opened. Gina waved to the kwami and stepped through. Plagg watched her go and then floated back to his master, content.

***

“So,” Alix asked as they walked through the screen-riddled void that was the Burrow. “The timeline appears to be fixed. Congrats! You saved the future.”

To emphasize this, she blew a noise maker.

Gina glanced at her aunt, who was still in Bunnyx mode. “Um, I fixed it hours ago,” she said. “Why didn’t you collect me when we defeated the akuma?”

Alix shrugged. “Gosh, I must have made a mistake. Silly me,” she said.

Gina shot her some side eye. “You don’t make mistakes,” she said.

Alix glanced at her and grinned. “You’re right. Say, I think this is your stop.”

She gestured to a portal at the end of a white pathway. Gina, who was getting used to travel via Burrow, stepped through without hesitating. In a flash of light, she was back in her room.

She looked around. “Aunt Alix?” She called behind her, but to her surprise, she was the only person there.

Also, it was noticeably darker outside her window.

Gina wandered to the glass and put her hand on the sill as she looked out over the city. She was completely beat from her day, but it had been more than worth it to her.

Gina felt a yawn coming on and was about to get changed for bed, but paused when she heard a quiet knock on her door.

“What is it, jerk?” Gina called out. Seriously, the only reason Emilie ever came to her room this late was to borrow a charger, and Gina wasn’t even sure where hers was. The den, maybe? She…

Gina’s eyes went wide as Marinette and Adrien opened the door. “Hi,” Marinette said with a wave. “Can we come in?”

Gina nearly tripped as she spun around. “Mo… Mom? Dad? Aren’t you supposed to be on a plane?”

They looked at each other and smiled. “Well, we were,” Adrien said. “But then we remembered that we can teleport.”

“Hey,” Marinette said as she took a step towards her daughter. Gina instantly hugged herself and tensed, not sure where this was going. “I, um, wanted to talk to you, if that’s okay?”

Gina took a breath. She closed her eyes and pushed down the ball of fear in her stomach.

“Before you say anything, I need to say something,” Gina said. She set her gaze on the ground in front of her. If she looked at her mother now, she knew she’d lose her resolve.

Marinette paused and let a small smile play across her lips, but she didn’t say anything. Gina, still focused on the floor, clenched her fists and swallowed.

_‘Speak louder. Make me listen.’_

Gina nodded.

“Today was really hard!” She yelled. Marinette jumped a little, and Gina’s eyes shot open. She had misjudged her volume just a little. Chalk it up to adrenaline.

“You tell me to be responsible, and I am _trying_!” Gina said, her voice trembling, but loud. “I do my schoolwork, I stay out of trouble, and I am doing everything I can to make good choices, but sometimes it feels like you don’t see that.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. It was shaking so hard that she thought she was going to accidentally punch herself.

“You hear something bad and you jump to the worst thing possible. You assume I can’t handle myself, or that I don’t know what I’m doing, and yeah, I get it. I’m a kid. I screw up, and I don’t know everything, but, but I know that when I make a choice, it, it’s because I’m trying to do good, and I did good today! And it was important and… And…”

Gina felt her words catching in her throat. She completely lost her train of thought as a sob escaped her.

Instantly, she felt herself being enveloped by two strong sets of arms. She leaned into her parents as they held her tight.

“Oh sweetie,” Marinette cooed as she stroked her daughter’s hair. “Sweetie, we are so sorry.”

“We didn’t know what a morning you’d had,” Adrien said. He kissed the top of her messy brown hair. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Gina sobbed harder. “I tr… Tr… Tired to! Bu… But you wou… You wouldn’t…”

Marinette hugged her tighter. “Please forgive us,” she said. “We didn’t know. I swear to you, we didn’t know.”

“I was just trying to do the ri… The right thing, and I was so scared! And it hu… Hurt! It hurt my arms and hands so bad!”

Marinette felt her own tears starting to fall as she rocked her daughter back and forth. “I cannot _believe_ you were able to do that. Ziggy is, well, not the strongest kwami.”

“Sweetheart, of course we’re proud of you. We’re over the moon with you, no matter what,” Adrien said.

Gina leaned back. Her glasses were at a diagonal angle on her face and her nose was running. “But you said… You said…”

Marinette took the sight of her daughter in. When her eyes fell on her shoulder, they went wide.

Marinette bit her lip and looked her daughter in the eye. “Sometimes… Sometimes I don’t hear things very well. When that happens, you know what you need to do?”

Gina sniffled as she hiccupped. “Wu… What?”

Marinette winked. “Speak louder.”

Gina looked at her for a moment and then started sobbing again. She leaned into her mother. “Today was so hard!”

“I know,” Marinette said. “We really did not help things, did we?”

“You were very brave,” Adrien said. “And I have to say, very foolish. You could have been killed.”

“The bus… The kids were going to be killed and… And I didn’t even think I just jumped in front of it and I thought I was gonna die I was so so scared and then my arms gave out and I thought that was it and then it stopped and…”

Marinette nodded as she stroked her head. “Sometime, remind me to tell you the story about how your Aunt Chloé almost killed a bunch of people with a runaway train. It’ll make you feel a lot better about yourself.”

Gina hiccupped. “And then I went back and, and I stole Plagg again and…”

Adrien blinked. “Wait, what?”

Plagg, who had been in his pocket, popped out and grinned. “Was that today? Ha!”

“And Grandpa was a monkey and I beat up my Grandpa and you almost died and Grandma kept telling you to have sex and I still have to talk to Richter and I want this day to be done!”

Marinette nodded, completely unphased. “I know. I know.”

Adrien just stared. “What?!”

Marinette waved him off. “Girl stuff. It’s cool. Hey,” Marinette leaned back from her daughter and reached into her pocket. “Look, tomorrow, we really do have to be in New York, and I was thinking it would be irresponsible to leave Paris unprotected.”

She slipped out a set of red barrettes and placed them in Gina’s hand.

“I should have trusted you,” Marinette said. “And I shouldn’t make this a punishment. I am so, so sorry. Can you forgive me?”

Gina sniffed and smiled. She nodded and tightly clutched the barrettes, which had changed back to black.

“Thank you,” Gina whispered.

Marinette nodded. “Just promise me you won’t punch anyone out unless you have a very good reason, okay?”

Gina laughed and sniffed loudly. “I promise.”

“Oh!” Marinette said as she reached into her purse. She took out her phone. “Hold on. This reminds me, I need to give you something that might help with school.”

Gina sniffled. “What?”

Marinette opened an archived folder on her phone and skimmed through the files until she found what she was looking for. “Oh, just something to help if you happen to be late to class,” she said with a grin.

***

On Friday, Adrien dropped Gina off by the school’s front entrance and waved goodbye as she headed up the steps. She was a little early, but that was on purpose. She had some business to take care of.

She looked around the common area and easily spotted Richter. He was sitting on a bench and hunched over, his attention squarely on his phone. Gina drifted over to him and cleared her throat.

Richter looked up, his eyes wide. “Um, hey,” he said in a soft voice.

“Hey,” Gina said back. “Uh, how’s the eye?”

Richter shrugged. Gina could see that it was healing, but that she had given him a full-on shiner. “It’s okay, I guess,” he said.

“Sooo,” Gina said as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. “Your song was nice. I’m sorry I hit you. I panicked.”

Richter smiled a little and shrugged. “Oh, uh, thank you. It’s okay. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Eh,” Gina said, waving it off. “I should have responded better. Look, um, I don’t know that I’m really looking for anything heavy, you know? But, um, if you’d like to hit the arcade with me after school, I’d be cool to just, you know, hang out. Would that be okay?”

Richter visibly relaxed. “Yeah, um, that would be. I thought about it a lot after, well, you know. Um, just hanging out sounds nice.”

Gina grinned. “Good, ‘cause I’m gonna kick your butt at Mecha Strike XII.”

“It’s on,” he said with a grin.

Gina smiled to herself as she walked away. ‘ _One down, one to go._ ’ She thought to herself.

***

Caline was busy going over the quizzes she had told herself she would have done by now when she heard a quiet knock on her office door. She looked up, confused. Students usually waited until Friday afternoon, right as she was locking up her office, to bother her about things. “Yes? Come in,” she said.

Gina opened the door to the cluttered office. “Hi, Ms. Bourgeois,” Gina said. “Um, I, uh, wanted to apologize for being late on Tuesday. Also, um, for punching Richter.”

Caline smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Gina. I take it you spoke to Richter already?”

“I did,” Gina said. “Um, we’re cool. Also,” Gina put her hands in her pockets. “The reason I was late on Tuesday, um, you see…”

“Gina?” Caline asked, interrupting her. “Can I share something with you?”

Gina nodded, slightly thrown off from being interrupted.

“These tests are killing me, you know that? Just killing me. Between checking things in the morning, collecting documents from my inbox, working with students… I can’t catch a break. Do you know what it feels like to be pulled every which way, with no one noticing? I mean, why would they? I’m just a teacher.”

Gina shuffled her feet. “Um, that must be hard?”

Caline gave an exasperated nod. “It most certainly is. In fact, do you know what would make it better? If I had an assistant. I’m old. I need an assistant, Gina.”

Gina blinked. “Okay? And, um, you’re not that old.”

Caline gestured to her office. “I need someone to help me check the office in the mornings, to run off and make sure there aren’t missing students in the washroom, you know,” she leveled her gaze on Gina. “Hero stuff.”

Inside Gina’s head, gears were beginning to turn.

“Your mom was my assistant when she was about your age,” Caline said as she leaned back in her chair. She picked her coffee cup up, a black and white cow cup that said _My Ranch, My Rules_ , and sipped it.

Gina’s eyes widened a little. “Ohhhh.”

Caline nodded. “The nice thing this time around is I don’t have to pretend as much with you. Gina, I get why you didn’t tell me you were holding a miraculous. That comes with the job, but sweetie? Ziggy isn’t subtle. I can hear him humming James Taylor songs in your bag while I’m teaching."

Gina blushed and fidgeted in place. “Oh. Um, sorry.”

Caline waved her off. “It’s cool. I’m used to it. Look, you need to take care of something in the morning? Do it. If there’s an emergency? Go do what you need to do. We can always catch you up on your work. Also,” she gestured to her office. “My door is always open.”

Gina smiled and stammered out, “Wow. Um, thank you, Ms. Bourgeois. I, um, I don’t know what to…”

Caline stared at her over her cocoa. “Gina dear? My daughter used to babysit you. Camille still thinks of you as a little sister. You and your family vacation with my daughter’s family every fall. We’ve had Christmas dinner together.” She sipped her cocoa. “You honestly thought I didn’t _know_?”

Gina shrugged.

Caline sighed and shook her head. “Get out of here, kiddo. Class is about to start and I have to get these tests ready.”

Gina turned to leave, and the paused. She glanced back at her teacher as several things clicked for her at once.

Gina turned and gave Caline a grin. “Also, one more thing? Mom wanted you to know that, um, even though I’m using Ziggy, you’ll always be Captain Cowgirl to her.”

Caline choked as she spit up her cocoa. She quickly set her mug down and scrambled for a paper towel from the half-gone roll she had in her desk drawer. Growling, she pointed at her door as she tried to wipe up her mess and roared, “OUT.”

Laughing, Gina booked it out of her teacher’s office and headed to class.

***

That evening, Gina stood on the balcony of her home with Ziggy on her shoulder. It was a Friday night, she didn’t have a bedtime due to the weekend, and the city lights looked amazing.

She heard the sliding door behind her. She looked back to see Emilie standing there, dressed in a fluffy, pink sweater and red tights. The combination shouldn’t have worked, but on her, it looked stunning.

“Sup, squirt?” Emilie asked as she strolled up to lean on the railing beside Gina.

“Nothing, jerk. Just looking at the city,” Gina said, smiling as she kept looking out over the skyline. Her mood was too good to be intimidated, even by her big sister.

“So,” Emilie said, “I was thinking of going out tonight. You know,” she gestured to the city. “Thought I’d take a run.” As she said it, Orriko popped onto her shoulder. Gina glanced at the rooster kwami as it preened itself.

Emilie looked at Gina and said, “So, you wanna come with?”

Gina felt a burst of excitement at being included by her sister, but pushed it down. She shrugged and said, “If you think you can keep up.”

They grinned at each other.

That night, two miraculous heroes bounded across the city. While they began with a race, eventually, they decided to split off and take things at their own pace. To be fair, they had always been more comfortable working apart than together.

“I’m gonna pick up some takeout. See you at the Eiffel Tower in an hour, squirt?” Emilie called out.

Gina nodded. “Try not to be late, jerk!”

Gina stood atop a high-rise and watched as her sister disappeared over the Paris skyline. A breeze was kicking up. Gina pulled her black leather jacket closer to her black and white body suit and smiled.

Apparently, you _could_ change your costume if you thought hard enough about it.

Gina launched into a swan dive as she used her hook to swing across the city.

Tonight, the city of Paris could sleep easy.

If trouble popped up, Gina didn’t know if she’d be strong enough or fast enough to handle it, but she did know one thing for certain.

If she was needed, she would be there.

That’s what a hero did, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I really liked Gina the first time I wrote her. I liked her so much I wanted to use her again, but in another complete story onto itself. Yes, this series is a sequel to The Miraculous World of Caline Busiter, and yes, knowing what happened there does help with a few things, but I think overall this series can stand on its own. We'll see if anything more happens with Gina in the future. I honestly don't know at this point.
> 
> For now, I really hope you enjoyed the story, and I'll see you soon.


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